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Traumatic news takes psychic toll

De-stress by focusing on current issue that sparks your inner advocate

The Syrian refugee crisis has the capacity to shock and distress. Rather than becoming overwhelmed try to use the compassion you feel to drive your activism.Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images

Marc Kielburger & Craig Kielburger

Published: October 13, 2015 - 7:00 AM

You bolt out of bed as the latest election poll results blare from your clock radio alarm. All day, friends on Facebook spar over the niqab debate. On the evening news, politicians exchange barbs on live TV about potential job losses looming from the massive new Pacific Rim trade deal.

Can you feel your jaw muscles clench?

News reports are one of the biggest contributors to daily stress, according to a 2014 U.S. study carried out by several groups, including the Harvard School of Public Health. Of the quarter of Americans surveyed who said they had a “great deal” of stress, these individuals cite consuming news as the main culprit.

Earlier this year, a BBC online headline asked, “Can social media cause PTSD?” The concept sounds radical but it was prompted by a recent study out of the University of Bradford in the U.K.

Researchers found more than 20 per cent of participants who repeatedly saw disturbing news images on social media scored high for symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress syndrome.

A U.K. study found that watching disturbing images on social media could trigger temporary PTSD symptoms. AP Photo

In an article on National Public Radio’s website, University of Texas psychologist Mary McNaughton-Cassill explains there is often a primal relationship between stress and traumatic news. Our brains pay close attention to what they perceive as potential threats. While our instinct may be to stay on top of the unfolding details of a natural disaster, massive oil spill, or murder spree, our minds sense danger. We can become hyper alert and anxious.

“News is to the mind what sugar is to the body,” Rolf Dobelli espoused in an essay on the Guardian’s U.K. website. The Swiss author of The Art of Thinking Clearly (2013), boasted in the article that giving up news media for more than four years made him less anxious and a deeper thinker. Dobelli encourages everyone to give it a try.

We can’t imagine being so out of touch with local or global events. For us, the news is like a kale smoothie. It’s part of our daily ritual, and fuels our social conscious and recharges our moral battery.

But Andrea Badgley, a Toronto social worker in private practice, tells us it’s not uncommon for people to take (or therapists to recommend), a “news detox” for a few days, or more, to de-stress. We can all agree four years is extreme.

Dr. Nasreen Khatri, a clinical psychologist in Toronto who specializes in anxiety and mood disorders, says the first step to healthy news consumption is being mindful of the impact of certain stories. “Everyone has different triggers,” adds Badgley.

If stock market updates regularly leave you fretting about your retirement funds, block them from your news feed and remind yourself your money is in good hands with pros.

You can also get your fill of current events with media like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver that tackle serious issues with a big dose of satire.

News satirists like John Oliver help us consume current events with good humour. HBO Canada

Regardless of where you get your news, channel your attention to an issue that sparks your inner advocate. We think of school kids hearing about a humanitarian crisis, like this year’s earthquake in Nepal. They’re quick to empty out pockets full of coins, and pester teachers to start up a fund.

There are lots of ways to reignite this “news equals compassion” instinct in ourselves.

If you’re an eco-enthusiast and an environmental group’s latest findings have you worried about the world your kids’ will inherit, join a local eco-advocacy group, suggests Badgley.

Are you distressed at the never-ending images of desperate refugees streaming out of Syria? Fire off an email to your MP candidates, or start a petition. Even making a small donation to a non-profit doing great work on this issue will make you feel like you are part of the solution.

If you really want to detox, cleanse your mind of any thoughts that you can’t make a difference.

Brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger founded a platform for social change that includes the international charity Free The Children, the social enterprise Me to We and the youth empowerment movement We Day.